


it's always the last place you look

by hi_raeth



Series: retweet (twitter fics) [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Safe to Read if You're Triggered by Pregnancy, ben is so dumb you guys. so dumb, mentions of ben's past relationships, originally posted on twitter, rey loves him for it, reyloprompts made me do it, the whole gang is here!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26950507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_raeth/pseuds/hi_raeth
Summary: Inspired bythis gem from @reyloprompts, with minor modifications: "Ben is extremely picky when it comes to women, his friends give up setting him up with women. One day they randomly invite their friend Rey to eat dinner with all of them and to their surprise Ben scolds them for not setting them up."OR: Ben's friends spend five years setting him up with pretty much every single person they know... except Rey. (They're really bad at this matchmaking thing, okay?)
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: retweet (twitter fics) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639294
Comments: 58
Kudos: 381





	it's always the last place you look

It all starts when Kaydel breaks up with him their senior year of high school and promptly starts dating Jannah.

The thing is, Ben's not actually that broken up about it. The only reason he and Kay had started dating in the first place when they were fourteen was because their parents have always been so close and they've been cooing over how cute Ben and Kay are together since pre-school. So he'd danced with Kay during his bar mitzvah, and again during her stuffy, proper birthday party the next year, and suddenly Ben was the first of his friends to have a girlfriend.

He's always known, though, that his relationship with Kaydel is different from most.

They stay together because it's the easy thing to do. They cuddle up because they've been doing so literally since they were in diapers. They tell everyone they preferred kisses on the cheek and forehead because they aren't into PDA.

And then one day Kay comes to him in tears, scared and confused and exhilarated about her unexpected feelings for their other childhood friend Jannah after kissing her during a game of spin the bottle the week before, and just like that they go back to being best friends.

None of their friends understand - especially when Kaydel and Jannah show up to school hand-in-hand the next week and Ben meets them with a wide, sincere smile.

Poe tries to set him up with the new girl, Tallie, later that very same day. It doesn't lead anywhere.

For prom, Zorii sets him up with Jess Pava. They laugh and dance and end up becoming unexpected friends for the next few years, but nothing more.

There's Bazine his sophomore year of college, Kaydel's roommate with whom he goes on a string of dates that lead nowhere. His classmate and closest college friend, Rose, sets him up on a date with her sister Paige when she comes to visit. Poe tries to connect him with Zorii after their high school romance fizzles out. And then Hux after their weird hatefuck thing runs its course.

By their senior year of college, everyone's gone from whispering that he's still hung up on Kaydel to teasing him for being the pickiest man on earth. It's easier for them to understand than the truth, which is that Ben just doesn't... click with anyone.

Not gorgeous Paige, destined to be a supermodel. Not snarky Hux, whose daddy issues actually rival his own. Definitely not Zorii, the weirdest of Poe's matchmaking attempts - which is really saying something.

Ben lets his friends think whatever they want, so long as it means they give up on setting him up with every friend of a friend, group assignment teammate, and cute barista.

And then Finn's foster sister Rey comes to visit from London for his college graduation.

He's walking toward the gang where they're waiting for him outside their favorite diner when he first sees her, and Ben literally stumbles on thin air when their eyes meet. He comes _this close_ to falling flat on his ass when she promptly giggles at him - not mockingly, not maliciously, not in a way that makes him want the ground to open up beneath him.

Quite the opposite, actually. Somehow, she makes it feel like she's laughing _with_ him, and by the time Ben reaches their group he's chuckling under his breath as well.

At dinner, they end up sitting across from each other and talking about Galaxy Wars and cars and comics all night. Ben goes home that night feeling like he's just developed a crush for the first time in his life.

Two days later, when she sees him looking out of place at the graduation ceremony while all his friends are taking pictures with their families, she promptly pulls him into her picture with Finn. It's one of only five photos he keeps in his apartment.

When she shows up at Maz's on Sunday to join them for drinks, having seamlessly integrated into Finn's group of friends, all bright eyes and wide smiles as she tells them she got the job and she's moving to the States... Ben thinks that's the happiest he's ever been in his life.

He knows he's not being subtle by any stretch of the imagination, knows he's always worn his heart on his sleeve, knows his eyes definitely give away how he feels about Rey. So Ben waits - for days and weeks and then months, he waits for that inevitable "So... what do you think about Rey?" text that will lead to a date.

And then suddenly Rey's inviting them all over to mark the half-year anniversary of her big move across the pond - and there's still been no text, no knowing looks, no painfully obvious attempts to lock them together in a closet.

When it hits him, Ben nearly groans out loud at his own idiocy.

 _Of course_ someone as accomplished and kind and beautiful as Rey is taken. Of course the only person he's ever wanted in all these years of having what feels like a small country’s worth of random strangers thrown his way is not an option.

He's proud to announce that he only wallows for a while.

Barely a week, really.

Okay, maybe it's closer to two.

But by the time Finn and Poe throw a housewarming party later that month, he's decided that he's just happy to have Rey in his life. The fact that she actually likes his company enough to be his friend already makes him feel like the luckiest man on earth, and that's good enough.

So he sits next to her at all their group parties and dinners and brunches, and he volunteers to go watch whatever terrible sci-fi horror movie is playing at the theater because they're her favorite, and he falls in love with her knowing this is all they'll ever have.

And then one day, when Rey can't make it to Sunday brunch because of a cold and Ben is waiting for a takeaway order of chicken soup to bring to her after they're done here, Poe suddenly turns to him and asks, "So when are you going to ask Rey out?"

He drops his fork.

It lands on Jannah's foot somehow, and she waves her own fork at him in a manner that is half-joking, half-threatening after the initial yelp of surprise and pain.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't— Poe just— I mean... _what_?"

Rose kicks his foot from across the table as everyone else erupts into a wave of groans and eye-rolls. "Come _on_ , Ben, it's so obvious!" she points out, and by this point his ears are burning and his throat is dry and his heart is pounding, but he's so fucking confused he can't even begin to feel self-conscious about this.

"It doesn't matter how I feel about her, Rose," he insists. "Or how she feels about me, in case any of you were going to try and convince me she's not completely and hopelessly out of my league." And here he looks pointedly at Poe, notorious proponent of the _shoot your shot, anything is possible!_ school of dating.

"Rey's just... not that kind of person. She wouldn't be so amazing if she were. And I can't believe that you would encourage me to—"

"Hold on, back up a second," Finn suddenly chimes in, his brows furrowed. "Rey's not what kind of person?"

Ben stares at him for a good five seconds, wondering if everyone secretly swapped their orange juice for mimosas.

Finn of all people should know what he's talking about, after all.

"The kind of person who gets involved with someone else when she's already in a relationship?" he points out slowly and clearly for the benefit of his possibly tipsy friends. The blank looks of confusion that greet him certainly confirm that theory, as does the sudden roar of laughter that follows.

"Oh my god, this is priceless!" Poe cries out, clutching at his belly.

"Ben, you _idiot,_ " Kay sputters between giggles.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Finn asks, the only person at this table who looks as confused as he feels.

And that's when he realizes he's spent the last eight or so months being an absolute idiot.

Because there's no way that Finn, Rey's own brother and the person she is closest to in the whole wide world ( _aside from you_ , she’d tipsily confessed to him one night, _you’re my favorite too_ ), would be left in the dark about Rey's love life.

"Oh my god, I _am_ an idiot," Ben mumbles as he drops his head into the waiting cradle of his arms, the cool marble surface doing little to alleviate the burning shame hot on his skin.

Poe reaches out to pat his back. "There, there. We love you anyway, buddy."

And just like that, shame gives way to rage.

"Why the fuck didn't anyone tell me?" he demands, straightening up once more to look every person at the table in the eye. "What gives, you guys? You can set me up with dozens of strangers but not the one person I actually like?"

Poe shrugs.

He just fucking _shrugs_. "We thought you had it handled. I mean, the way you guys instantly clicked that first night? I've never seen you like that, man."

"Neither have we," Kaydel says as Jannah nods along, "and we've literally known you all our lives, Ben."

Finn holds up his hands. "In my defense, I did tell Poe you two would probably get along. But she's always been in London up until now, and the one time she did come visit for Christmas you were back in Alderaan."

Ben's shoulders sag as the rest of the table chimes in with various reasons that - as much as he hates to admit it - make perfect sense.

This one's completely on him.

Just then, Amilyn - proprietor of this fine establishment where they've been causing chaos ever since freshman year - appears with his takeaway order of chicken noodle soup and Rey's favorite waffles, just in case she's feeling up to it. "I hope this means you're finally going to do something about that crush of yours," she tells him with an encouraging smile, one he finds mirrored on the faces of all his friends.

Friends who've only ever wanted him to be happy, who've always had his best interests at heart, who would never steer him down the wrong path.

"Yes," Ben decides, reaching for his wallet. "Yeah, I think I am."

He pays for his and Rey's share of the bill as the table erupts into whoops and hollers, and his exit from the restaurant is punctuated with encouraging cheers and unsolicited advice. The last - and loudest - one comes from Poe. "Don't forget to be safe, you two!"

It's quickly followed by a loud "Ow, that hurts!" from Poe, an indignant "That's my baby sister!" from Finn, and endless laughter from the rest of their friends.

They're a ridiculous group, but Ben wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. After all, they brought Rey into his life... and now he has the chance to ask her to stay in it, preferably forever.

Takeaway bag clutched in one hand and phone in the other, Ben lets memories of the past eight months quiet his fears and carry his feet along the fifteen-minute walk to the tiny little apartment that's quickly become his favorite place in the world.

He's never felt this nervous before - not when he and Kaydel had their first dance in front of all their family and friends, not when he asked Bazine on a second date, not even when he drunkenly slipped up one night and told Rey she's his favorite person in the world.

Ben has never been so scared, so nervous, so excited - but that's always how it's been with Rey, isn't it? From the very beginning, she's always brought out feelings in him he never even dreamed he was capable of.

And so for her, for the woman who makes him happier than he's ever been, he can be brave.

He can walk right up to her front door, and melt at the way she smiles at him when she realizes he's here to care for her, and somehow find the courage, when she rests her head in his lap while they're mindlessly watching TV after lunch, to tell her that he loves her.

And it all pays off when Rey turns her head to look up at him with the softest smile on her lips and asks, "What took you so long, Ben Solo?"

He's so relieved he can only laugh, and she laughs with him until one hand lovingly cups his cheek and pulls him down for a kiss.

"I hope you mean it," Rey whispers breathlessly at some point between their fourth and seventh kiss; no one can blame him for losing count, "because there's a high chance I'm giving you my cold right now and I'm hoping you won't mind."

He's still smiling against her lips when he unthinkingly blurts out, "Hey, in sickness and in health, right?"

Ben tenses when his brain finally catches up to his mouth, but then Rey, perfect Rey who's been on the same page with him ever since that first day, smiles back and kisses him again and murmurs, "In sickness and in health."

.  
.  
.

Three years later, they share a secret smile when they reach this part of their vows, and their friends – who’ve memorized every single detail of the beginning of their love story – cheer (Finn and Kaydel) and laugh (Rose and Jannah) and cry (Poe, surprisingly, although he denies it for the rest of their long, happy lives).

**Author's Note:**

> So this was unexpected. I bookmarked the prompt on Twitter a few days ago not really expecting to do anything with it, and then this morning I realized it would be super depressing to dive right into work on a Sunday so I figured I'd throw together a quick 500-word Twitter ficlet for this. Two hours later, I had two thousand words. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I hope you enjoyed at least some of those words. Thanks for reading, and as always feel free to leave a comment below or [come say hi on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/hiraeth_writes)


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